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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29541858">After the Storm</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tntgoboom/pseuds/tntgoboom'>tntgoboom</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>(its wilbur and schlatt), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Character Study, Floris | Fundy Needs A Hug, Floris | Fundy-centric, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Loneliness, Mentioned Jschlatt (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned Wilbur Soot, Niki | Nihachu Needs a Hug, Niki | Nihachu-centric, Overworking, Smoking, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, also fuck the 3 death system all my homies hate the 3 death system, but for who? we may never know, i realized about 6k in that this is a, theyre trying to cope and its just not working out too great</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 19:22:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,499</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29541858</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tntgoboom/pseuds/tntgoboom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Fundy looks down at her, eyes blown wide and mouth pulled into a furious scowl. His teeth are bared past his lips just enough that Niki can tell how sharp they are. Rain splatters uselessly onto the cobblestone staircase that leads down into the empty city below and starts soaking into her clothes. He looks at her, really looks, and she can't say she's not surprised when he says, "Run away with me."</p><p>(or: what drywaters couldve been feat. way more trauma)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cara | CaptainPuffy &amp; Niki | Nihachu, Floris | Fundy &amp; Niki | Nihachu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>75</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>After the Storm</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>title from after the storm by mumford and sons</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In the darkness of the caverns beneath the ground, echoing off the expanse of space that spans miles and miles deep, Niki mines. It's something she's come to love; the monotonous push and pull of her muscles as she swings her pickaxe back and forth, the sound a constant beat in the back of her mind while she works, the smell of the stone and the soot rising in the air to meet her nose.</p><p>Honestly, when she first began mining, she'd hated it. Her body ached constantly and she was always drenched in sweat. Every breath she took filled her lungs with smoke from her torches and dust from the stone beneath her feet. It wasn't pleasant, really, and she'd nearly given up. <em>Was carving out her safe haven in this world of war really worth the effort it took</em>?</p><p>But she'd stuck with it, and now she greets the feeling with warmth and mirth. Her body aches and it's a comfort, a reminder of all she's accomplished. After all, a cavity so cleanly cut out of the earth like this isn't natural—it's manmade. This chamber is weeks upon weeks of hard work and grit that Niki poured her heart and soul into.</p><p>In the time it took for her to get this far, her city has grown massive, carving its way deeper and deep into the ground and becoming something somewhat livable. Sure, there are torches sporadically thrown around to ensure no monster show up in the dead of night while she's resting, and the number of times she's fallen because she forgot to put in railings on her latest staircase is creeping towards the hundreds, but it's <em>something</em>.</p><p>Maybe, when all is said and done, when her city is filled to the brim with only warmth and comfort and safety, when the wars of above have ceased and the citizens of their factions have laid down their weapons, when everyone has finally tired out from the conflict, this place will feel more like a home. Right now, however, it lies in wait, taking up space with what could be, down the line.</p><p>Niki works tirelessly. Some days Hbomb will visit, drop her some supplies and words of encouragement. Other days she'll visit her friends on the surface, joke and play and laugh. Most days, though, she works in silence, her only company the one Enderman that wandered in and chose to stay. She doesn't hate it, but it does get lonely, sometimes.</p><p>She doesn't tell many people about her hideaway. She knows what happens to independent people in this world, and she knows what will happen if word gets out that she's built a place of peace. If Dream has made anything clear about his land, it's that peace is not a viable option, unless that peace is accomplished through ultimate submission. Likewise, Niki has made it clear how she feels about people that hold absolute power over others and use that power maliciously. Schlatt was not an example—he was the tutorial. And L'manburg lost.</p><p>Karl, at least, she trusts. She trusts him and Hbomb and while she trusts others near and dear to her heart, she does not trust them with the responsibility of another nation, however peaceful she makes it out to be.</p><p>So to say she's surprised when she gets a ping on her communicator letting her know that Fundy is on his way is an understatement.</p><p>At first, she thinks it's a simple case of miscommunication. She debates on whether she should send him a quick message so that he knows she's not at her bakery, but thinks better of it. If he thought she was in L'manburg, he wouldn't have messaged her. Fundy never really was one for pleasantries. If he thought she was at her bakery, he would've shown up out of the blue, demanding whatever food he wanted and roping her into his newest scheme.</p><p>No, he's not telling her he's coming to visit. What he's doing is demanding to know her coords, demanding to know where she's gone, why she's disappeared, how he can find her. He's telling her that he's going to find her, it's just a matter of how easy she wants to make it.</p><p>Niki huffs and takes a gulp of her water. Her city is getting larger, but it's not quite big enough yet. She wants to make it large enough for everyone to take refuge, for a million personalized rooms to run across the length of every balcony. In her imagination, each section takes on a different use—a game room here, a craft room there, a training room somewhere to the left—and all it takes is maybe a few more weeks of mining and digging and a little more determination.</p><p>With a heavy sigh, Niki pulls up her coords. As she types she gets the sense that Fundy is already traveling, looking for her. She doesn't mind. Fundy is one of the few people she can stand to mess around with without it getting too personal or too destructive. He won't ruin her city, she's not worried about him.</p><p>It takes twenty minutes for another chime to sound from her communicator (<em>she's counting the seconds</em>) and when she checks the little device, she sees a single unread message from Fundy.</p><p>'<em>ItsFundy whispers to you: where are you its rainjng</em>'</p><p>Which, a bit anticlimactic, but very Fundy-esque. With a laugh, Niki clips her communicator back onto her pants and sets her water down. Her city is huge, but she's gotten used to traversing across thin bridges and unstable scaffolding. The silence is a comfort, and the echoing sound of her shoes clicking against the stone pathways that reach across the expanse of her work makes her smile.</p><p>Her front door is a mound of dirt and a cobblestone staircase that she digs up and puts back meticulously every time she leaves. Her staircase is crudely made because it's not meant to be some grand show, it's meant to be functional, and Niki hasn't gotten around to making it any better. The whole of her city if unfinished, a work in progress, but she still thinks it's beautiful for what it is right now.</p><p>When she carefully digs up the dirt that covers her staircase, it's mushy, which she really should've considered based off of Fundy's message about the rain. It'll be a bit of a pain to put back after it's dug, and she'll probably have to wait for the rain to stop because of how much easier everything is when it's dry, but that's not a problem for Now Niki so she won't worry too much. She's more concerned with actually seeing Fundy and making sure he doesn't get lost or wander off.</p><p>And he doesn't, because when she breaks the surface he's standing right there, sopping wet and shivering in the downpour. He doesn't seem to notice her dig out an opening for herself, uncovering the cobblestone that leads downwards, getting her hands muddy and her hair wet. She can tell he's full of energy, from the way he fidgets in the absence of a greeting, though whether it's excited or nervous she doesn't know.</p><p>But she figures saying hi and letting him have the stage won't hurt. "Hello, Fundy. You wanted to talk?"</p><p>Fundy looks down at her, eyes blown wide and mouth pulled into a furious scowl. His teeth are bared past his lips just enough that Niki can tell how sharp they are. Rain splatters uselessly onto the cobblestone staircase that leads down into the empty city below and starts soaking into her clothes. He looks at her, really <em>looks</em>, and she can't say she's not surprised when he says, "Run away with me."</p><p>"What?"</p><p>He jerks forward, startling her into moving back, but he's faster. His clamps his hands onto her shoulders and she can feel his claws just barely not piercing her skin. He's not trying to hurt her, she can tell, he's just stressed.</p><p>"Niki, run away with me. Let's go somewhere far away, let's build a nation of our own, let's forget about L'manburg and leave everything behind!" When he speaks, the scent of cigarette smoke wafts into Niki's nose and it takes everything in her not to gag.</p><p>"Have you been smoking?" she asks instead of addressing whatever he's just said. Fundy makes a face.</p><p>"Yeah, I was stressed, what's that got to do with anything?"</p><p>"Since when do you smoke?"</p><p>"Since a while ago, whatever! It's not important! Are you coming or not? Because I'm going to leave whether you're with me or not! I just wanted to extend the offer because you're the only one that hasn't betrayed me in this godforsaken place." Fundy's voice is scathing, pissed off in a way that's not familiar.</p><p>Niki knows Fundy's voices, all the intricacies of his inflections. He's shouting in a way she hasn't heard in a very long time, very rarely. She thinks of a communicator call, of pets and screams and laughter and explosions. She thinks of a stage, of a flag, of flames and hurt feelings and locking eyes across miles. She thinks of a broken down van, of a legion and an alcoholic, of shattered bottles and dreams scattered across the wooden floor next to the glass and conflicted emotions over a corpse. Niki rarely hears Fundy this angry.</p><p>But he's angry right <em>now</em>, she's hearing it <em>now</em>, and that makes her anxious. Something really set him off. Something terrible must've happened, really, because Fundy may get angry and he may yell and he may fight but he is not vicious. By nature, Fundy is a harmless prankster, a mischievous fox. He isn't a soldier at heart, no matter how many wars he's had to take part in. His anger is not a wildfire of destruction and wrath, eating away at his life and turning his compassion and rationality to ash; it's a campfire, warm cinders keeping the cold from biting at his thoughts, soft songs and the occasional ember flashing up and hurting him, but not too bad.</p><p>Seeing him like this has always made her nervous, simply because Fundy is one of the most capable people she's ever met, and pairing those capabilities with the sort of motivator his wrath might be is an unsettling picture in her mind.</p><p>"Fundy," she starts, keeping her voice carefully level. "Who betrayed you? Why do you want to leave L'manburg?" Niki left L'manburg after it exploded because she had nothing left tying her there. Her ravine, her secret city, is more of a home than L'manburg has been in quite a while, and she has no desire to wander her crumbling bakery, try to spruce up the broken stone and the splintered wood. She hasn't been there in a long time, she's completely unaware of the happenings of L'manburg.</p><p>If somebody really has hurt Fundy while she was looking away, after everything he's just gone through, Niki isn't sure what she's to do. She's torn between comforting the manic fox before her and pushing him aside to start a manhunt for his aggressor. It's been a while since Niki and Fundy fought towards a common goal together, just the two of them—it'd be a nice change of pace to go back to the Pet War days.</p><p>"Everyone! L'manburg is full of traitors and people who can't be bothered to care! Quackity is hellbent on killing Technoblade without an army, Tubbo exiled Tommy against the will of his cabinet, everybody keeps stealing my shit and destroying my shit and I'm fucking tired of it!" he bursts out, ripping his hands from Niki's shoulders to dramatically throw them in the air, his head following suit. He lurches back, stumbles, and he's absolutely <em>seething</em> when he looks back to her. "I've been nothing but loyal to L'manburg and it's never given me <em>shit</em> in return. I'm sick and fucking tired of getting screwed over for people who don't fucking care about me, Niki."</p><p>For a moment, Niki is left speechless. She comes to the startling conclusion that he's implying only she cares about him anymore, which is just not true, she knows. But Fundy doesn't seem in the mood to debate the feelings of others, especially when he's so torn up. In the few seconds Niki contemplates her next words, Fundy frantically pulls at and searches his coat, rifling through each pocket with shaking hands. What he pulls out of his pocket (<em>one of the ones on the inside, safe from the rain</em>) is a tiny box, and only when he flips open the top does Niki realize it's cigarettes.</p><p>"Please don't," she blurts out instead of saying anything useful. She's not exactly used to being around people who smoke, but she has some residual memories of a coat that held a new pack every day, of a cape that won't drop the scent of smoke no matter how many times she washes it, of a beanie and a guitar and songs sung between two friends that were worth nothing more than the time that passed. She thinks it might've been better for him to have gone down to a sword rather than to lung cancer.</p><p>Fundy pauses, just to look up at her incredulously and pull out one of the cigarettes. It's clear after a moment of him putting away the box that he doesn't have a way to light it aside from his flint and steel, so the cigarette hangs unlit in his mouth.</p><p>"Are you in or not, Niki? I don't have hours to wait for you," he snaps. He's trembling minutely.</p><p>She doesn't have anymore time to think. She knows that, no matter how long she thinks and no matter how careful she is, she won't be able to find the words to comfort him right now. Fundy doesn't want comfort, he wants escape, and he's put her in a position to eventually help him when he's ready. If Niki wants to take that offer, she needs to jump on it now, no more time for deliberating.</p><p>"I'm in. I'll come with you," she says. The unspoken <em>wherever you go I'll follow</em> is there, but neither of them point it out.</p><p>Fundy frowns, the cigarette tilting to face the ground. Niki smiles as lovingly as she can. His hands shake as he takes it out of his mouth. "Let's go, then."</p><p>"Let's go." Niki echoes back, letting the rain wash the mud from her hands. The roar of it almost drowns out the sound of Fundy sniffling, but Niki still catches it, and when he turns away and shoves the cigarette back in him mouth she chooses not to comment on the rain drops she saw leaking from his eyes.</p>
<hr/><p>They name the desert "Drywaters" because Fundy thinks it's hilarious and Niki thinks it sounds nice. They build a cactus farm, and after a few hours of fooling around (<em>Fundy locks up the face they made with Gogy's Lips, and Niki's lungs hurt from how hard she laughs</em>) they throw together a list of things they need to get done. It's not much, at first, but that's alright. Fundy seems less jittery and more playful, and that's really all Niki can ask for.</p><p>By nightfall, they've made a little cabin to live in while they build up the rest of the land and collect resources. After all, it's nice to have a place to go after a long day's work, where you know a bed and some food will be waiting for you.</p><p>The cabin is really just a kitchen with two beds and a few chests shoved into one corner, because Niki is the one that built it and when she needs something to do with her hands she makes food, but they find that it's very homey. Fundy claims the double chest, putting in some mob heads and some diamonds and redstone sneakily, as if he doesn't want Niki to notice, so she says nothing as she watches out of the corner of her eye.</p><p>If Fundy thinks he has a reason to be sneaky and secretive, Niki's not going to solidify his worries by pointing out his behavior. All she can do is work to gain his trust and show him that he doesn't have to worry about his things being stolen or wrecked. She wordlessly takes the single chest and fills it with her own things, stacking the gold ingots and coal blocks next to each other with ease.</p><p>The first night is loud for a while, and then quiet, all the energy having been used up on hijinks and building. Niki gives Fundy a bowl of soup for dinner and neither of them talk as they eat. Fundy smokes a cigarette before they go to sleep and Niki pretends not to care about the smell when he crawls into the bed across from hers.</p><p>He doesn't broach the topic of his earlier outburst. She doesn't force him to. The first day ends with a cautious air, like they're walking on eggshells with each other as they stare at the ceiling in the dark together despite the day having been filled with jokes and laughter.</p><p>The next few days aren't very different. Fundy goes mining for resources, restless, always moving, like he's trying to keep himself from thinking by <em>acting</em>. Niki bakes, and she builds, and she farms, and when Fundy initiates the next joke into the growing silence she runs with it easily every time. They fall into a rhythm, watching their little plot of land grow and grow and grow. Fundy builds a house in the empty spot next to their little cabin, but doesn't move out, despite his continuous claims of wanting more room to be himself and take up space.</p><p>Niki doesn't know for certain, but she thinks it may be Fundy's way of showing his affection. He complains and he shouts and he whines, but the bed across the room stays unmade, covered in belongings that aren't Niki's.</p><p>They haven't talked about the night he found her—they haven't really talked about <em>anything</em> yet. Frankly, Niki is sorta afraid to break the fragile atmosphere they've created here, a kind of permanently upbeat vibe. If she even attempts to bring up anything he told her, she's not sure if he'll shut down and push her away or not.</p><p>So they don't talk.</p><p>Two weeks pass. A bakery pops up next to the bee farm, which is down the street from the saloon, which is a two minute walk from the cactus farm and the bulletin board that sits in the center of town. Their little cabin gains a haphazard basement, which quickly grows into a sort of storage vault that Fundy keeps all the important supplies in. The house next door stays empty, only being used once when Puffy comes to visit and drop off some flowers and soil for Niki to start a garden with.</p><p>They don't talk.</p><p>Fundy starts growing even more restless, losing sleep, always doing something. Niki can hear him tossing and turning some nights, before ultimately giving up and wasting the night away in the mines or starting a new redstone project or trying to finish the spawner he set up a few hundred blocks away. Niki spends most of her days farming and making sure things stay tidy and making sure Fundy stays fed, because she's worried he'll forget to eat if he focuses for so long on one thing.</p><p>(<em>She's right, of course. She catches him having gone two days straight without food because he was hellbent on finishing some redstone project Niki isn't sure even functions. At this point, Fundy is just working to work, and it's dangerous. They still don't talk.</em>)</p><p>It comes to a head at three weeks in, sometime around midnight.</p><p>Living in the desert is, predictably, extremely hot. Because of this, their most used resource is water, which makes it the thing they spend most of their time collecting and storing. Niki's kitchen is stocked with vegetables, fruits, wheat, and cabinets upon cabinets of water bottles and water buckets. They have a working water system, but only just barely, to the point where it's better to just take from L'manburg than to drink from the well in town.</p><p>The heat also means that both Fundy and Niki had to change their wardrobes pretty drastically to not get heatstroke every other day. Niki's change was easy—fewer layers, shorter hair, and a bandana to keep the sand out of her eyes. Fundy's change was a lot harder—there's only so much you can do when you're covered head to toe in fur.</p><p>Most of the water bottles are Fundy's, because of how much hotter his fur makes him in an environment like this. Niki counts how many bottles have disappeared at the end of each day, just to take stock of how many she needs to get on her weekly meet up with Puffy. It's also really the only way she can confirm to herself that Fundy is drinking as much as he needs, taking care of himself where she can't.</p><p>It's the only way she knows to search for him one day when he doesn't return for dinner, and he doesn't come home for bed, and she's counted five more water bottles than she has before. Five water bottles he didn't drink today, five bottles of water he doesn't have in the heat out there, hours and hours working in the desert without water, <em>Fundy what the fuck happened</em>.</p><p>'<em>You whisper to ItsFundy: Where are you?</em></p><p><em>You whisper to ItsFundy: Fundy?</em>'</p><p>And when she doesn't get an answer, Niki properly panics.</p><p>It takes another half an hour of searching and six more frantic messages to him (<em>all unanswered</em>) and to others (<em>Puffy's on her way</em>) for her to find him. He's lying unconscious in a pit dug into the sand, a huge crater of sorts. There are exactly seven cigarette butts scattered about, half buried by the sand and the wind blowing by (<em>the wind is scorching and Niki just gained several new scratches on her arms from the storm</em>). A huge mound of redstone dust sits untouched beside his body, along with a contraption Niki doesn't know how to operate and isn't sure does anything yet. There's two empty water bottles beside the redstone and Niki can guess what happened.</p><p>Puffy meets her halfway back to Drywaters, dragging his limp body through the sand and trying not to cry yet as to preserve the water in her body. They take Fundy back together, and Puffy is there when Niki breaks down sobbing, and she's there when they force Fundy to wake up for ten minutes just to drink something before passing out again, and she's there for the entire night and half the next day. Fundy doesn't wake up again, but he's not <em>dead</em>, and Niki has half a mind to kill him just to teach him not to scare the shit out of her like this again.</p><p>Because they haven't talked, but Fundy is clearly going through something, <em>has</em> been going through something, for <em>weeks</em>, and he never brought it up and Niki had just wanted to give him time but she should've <em>said</em> something, <em>anything</em> to let him know he could open up to her. But she hadn't, and Fundy hadn't brought water with him on his trip into the hot desert, and he'd passed out for who knows how long, <em>alone</em> out there.</p><p>She doesn't know if she'll ever let go of the guilt she feels as she cries into Puffy's arms. Fundy had come to her, had bared his heart to her <em>once</em> and then closed himself off indefinitely, and she didn't think to pry even just a little. Maybe she should've, really. Gone up to him one day, pushed a little on the walls he put up, just to prove she could, just to prove she was there and waiting. Maybe she should've come in swinging, axe blazing in the sun, ready to tear down his walls by force and show him that she cares.</p><p>Fundy wakes up at noon the next day, sweating bullets and dehydrated beyond belief. He goes through the five bottles he'd forgotten the day before and three more, and Niki follows suit, trying to compensate for the tears she'd shed. Puffy makes them some mushroom soup, and while she's in the kitchen and the illusion of being alone settles over Fundy and Niki, she decides to give the push she'd neglected to for the past three weeks.</p><p>"Please don't forget your water ever again. I was really scared you had died out there," she starts, gentle, easy. Leaning her weight against the walls, showing her presence but not imposing yet.</p><p>Fundy clicks his tongue. "It's fine, I didn't die." And when he looks up and meets her stern gaze, he shrinks back. Sighs. Scratches his cheeks a bit. Then, quietly, "I won't. Sorry I worried you."</p><p>"It's okay." Niki sits on the edge of the bed Fundy is lying in. She turns to face him. He looks away. She supposes now is as good a time as ever, the sound of Puffy bustling about the kitchen serving as background noise so they're not entrenched in silence. "I just worry about you, you know."</p><p>"You shouldn't have to," he snaps, before pulling back into himself. "I'm fine, I just forgot some water today. No big deal."</p><p>"It's a big deal to me." A shove, more weight against the wall, a call across the space between them.</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>"Put yourself in my shoes for a second. Imagine sitting in your house, alone, and getting a random message from your friend saying they want to meet up. You go, and they tell you to run away with them. They say they've been mistreated in their home by the people they love, and they want to leave, and they trust you to take care of them. Now imagine spending three weeks with this friend and seeing them overworking themself and hurting themself and being unable to do much about it. Would you not be worried?"</p><p>Fundy looks...well, he looks hurt, mostly. There's a little bit of something else there, but Niki can't put a finger on what it is. He doesn't respond, so Niki takes that as the go ahead to continue.</p><p>"Look, Fundy, I'm not going to pry because it's not my business if you choose not to share it with me, but I care about you. You can talk to me about what happened in L'manburg. You can talk to me about anything, actually, because I'm your friend and I'm here for you. Alright?" She reaches forward and sets her hand on top of his, and his eyes trace over the patterns on the blanket. He nods mutely.</p><p>And they still haven't talked, because they'll get nowhere if Fundy isn't the one to start the difficult part, but an olive branch has been extended. Niki has done her part in assuring him that he's safe and that he's loved with her around.</p><p>They eat soup, and Fundy is quieter than usual, but he's still partaking in the jokes and the teasing and it's all Niki can do not to cry when he beams. She's just glad he's not dead. <em>God</em>, she's glad he's not dead.</p><p>And when Puffy leaves after lunch, her expression pinched with worry and secret glances at Fundy over Niki's shoulder, Niki isn't nervous. She thinks it took far too long for her to take the leap and do something, but now that it's been done, it'll be easier. Puffy gives her a hug and she's gone, her parting words a request for her to watch over Fundy.</p><p>Niki swears on her life that this will never happen again, and she has no doubts that she'll be able to keep her promise.</p>
<hr/><p>One night Fundy says, "You know Wilbur used to smoke," while Niki is cooking some mushroom soup. It's so sudden and out of nowhere, yet Niki expects it. The night has been tense and Fundy left the house to smoke a cigarette three separate times, which Niki knows means he's stressed about something.</p><p>She turns to glance at him, and upon seeing him staring out the window, looks back at the soup. It's close to bubbling. "I did know that." Of course she knew. He'd asked as if they hadn't spent days together in the ravine that was Pogtopia, watching Wilbur eat through packs like they were candy as he aimlessly wandered, watching everyone else scrape together resources for the upcoming battle. "He spent my entire birthday party trying to get in a few cigarettes."</p><p>Fundy's ear twitches at the confirmation he had to have been expecting. In more ways than one, Fundy and Niki share life experience. The neglect they've both faced, the lying and stealing and griefing, the constant fear of watching their pets die, of watching their loved ones die. They were together in the Pet Wars, they ran for election together, they spent the final week in Pogtopia together and they've made this town together.</p><p>One thing she thinks they have experience with that very few share is Wilbur. Not L'manburg Wilbur, the leader of of a rebellion and a visionary in more ways than one; not Pogtopia Wilbur, a villain by all accounts but a broken man by more.</p><p>No, they both knew <em>Wilbur</em>—the man full of life and light and bursting at the seams with ideas. They <em>knew</em> him, the real him, not the man he was when he was pushed to become something. He was a good dad, in the in betweens, and a good friend too. She thinks it hurt more because they knew him when he wasn't a president or an outcast or a crazed madman. Tommy and Tubbo suffer from it too, and Phil and Techno. The people who knew him, really <em>knew</em> him.</p><p>It's why she knows that this conversation isn't going to be fun.</p><p>Wilbur, as a general statement, is a difficult topic. They could talk for hours about the things they loved, for days about the things they hated, for weeks about the things they missed. He was a person, as complex and multidimensional as the rest of them, which is what makes remembering him such a conflicting past time.</p><p>"He didn't smoke at my birthday." Fundy mumbles, so quiet Niki isn't sure she was even supposed to hear. She frowns—she's unsure what to make of that.</p><p>"He only picked it back up—"</p><p>"—When Schlatt came back, yeah." Fundy grimaces. "Schlatt really fucked him up."</p><p>"Schlatt hurt everyone," she says in response. When Fundy's grimace grows, she holds her tongue on anything else she has to say about Schlatt. That isn't this conversation. That's something else entirely for Fundy, something they're not going into right now.</p><p>"I miss him." Fundy picks at the wooden table, digging the scratches already there even deeper with his claws. He doesn't look at her, and she doesn't force him to. This is already such a difficult conversation and she supposes it doesn't hurt to let him alleviate some of the difficulty for himself.</p><p>Niki looks at the boiling soup and stirs it a bit. For a second she isn't sure whether he's talking about Wilbur or Schlatt, but she takes a chance and responds, "I know. Me too."</p><p>When they delve back into silence, Niki glances up. Fundy is still staring out the window, lips pulled into a deep frown. She thinks she can see tears at the edges of his eyes.</p><p>"He left me," he says, voice quiet, crackling with some emotion she can't name. She knows that it's bad, though, that he's hurting. Something in the back of her mind snaps that she's hurting, too, but she pushes it away.</p><p>"I know." Niki keeps her voice soft, kind, open. She wants this conversation to continue, if only for Fundy's peace of mind. The fox in question digs his claws deeper into the table.</p><p>"He left, Wilbur <em>left</em> and he didn't even say goodbye. That good for nothing asshole just up and <em>died</em>." He seethes, his voice pitching into a sort of growl.</p><p>At a loss, Niki just echoes herself, "I know," and when Fundy's head snaps to her she realizes that she's made a bad call.</p><p>"<em>Do</em> you know, Niki? Really?" He sounds so much like a child—like a seething, angry child, full of hurt and grief and pain and Niki doesn't know what to <em>do</em>. She's not used to being the therapist, having to help someone else through the same trauma she still holds. She can't help Fundy get over this because <em>she's</em> not over it. It's been months since Wilbur died and Niki still sees his face in her dreams, still wakes up crying, still runs his final words to her over in her head, trying to piece together what she could've done different, how she could've <em>saved</em> him.</p><p>"I do, Fundy. I <em>do</em> know, I miss him too, he left me too," she pulls out of her chest, desperate for him to keep talking, to let her in, to understand her. Her feelings on Wilbur are so hard to sort through, so weird and complex and frustrating to think about that she can't begin to explain them to herself, much less someone else. She does miss Wilbur, sometimes. Sometimes she's glad he's dead, and sometimes she hates herself for feeling that way.</p><p>"It's different!" Fundy shouts back. "He was my <em>dad</em> and now I'm an orphan without a home or a <em>family</em>."</p><p>Niki can't even begin to unpack that, to pull apart why Fundy doesn't think of Wilbur's family as his own, why Fundy spits <em>orphan</em> like it's an insult and not a tragedy, why he's so angry that she misses him too.</p><p>What really gets her, though, is how he tells her to her face that he has no family. Like everything they've gone through together means <em>nothing</em>.</p><p>"You <em>have</em> a family, Fundy! Just because Wilbur is dead doesn't mean people don't care about you!"</p><p>"Certainly feels that way! As soon as Wil died, everyone seemingly decided I wasn't worth the trouble anymore! The orphaned boy stranded in the crater that was his home, of course he's not worth the attention or the care!" Fundy's nails bite into the table and when he clenches his fists they make a terrible screeching sound as they tear through the wood. It screams in Niki's head, and Fundy's ears both flick downwards in protest.</p><p>"You're worth it to <em>me</em>!" she practically cries, slamming her hands down so hard on the counter that some boiling soup splashes out of the pot and burns one of her hands. She recoils, hissing in pain, and instantly Fundy is out of his seat. The kitchen goes silent as Niki sucks on the burnt skin and Fundy hovers. He keeps reaching forward, as if to check her hand, but stops himself short each time.</p><p>Finally, Niki checks the burn. It's not bad, just stings a little and the skin is red, so it'll hurt for a day or two. Fundy once again reaches forward, but when she looks up to meet his eyes, he leaves his hand in the space between them, reaching out. Niki sighs.</p><p>"You're like family to me, Fundy. And maybe you don't see me like that, that's fine, but you're still my friend if nothing else. <em>Of course</em> you're worth it to me." She lifts her own uninjured hand to meet his, and clasps them together. Fundy frowns.</p><p>"I didn't mean <em>you</em>," he says, squeezing her hand once before letting go. Niki lets his hand fall and resists the urge to scream.</p><p>"Then who did you mean?"</p><p>He crosses his arms and the frown on his face shifts from worried to bitter. "Everyone in L'manburg, all my supposed friends, hell, even my <em>grandpa</em> doesn't give a shit about me."</p><p>"Fundy," she starts, but stops. She has nothing to say, no way to rebuke his claims, because she doesn't live there anymore. What does she knows about his family or his fellow residents of L'manburg?</p><p>"Sorry, sorry." Fundy shivers, letting out a shuttering breath, before he scrambles through his jacket for his cigarette pack. Niki looks down and frowns.</p><p>"You have nothing to apologize for. You're allowed to feel things, Fundy."</p><p>Fundy hums back, but it's clear he's not listening to her anymore. When he opens the door, a burst of warm air floods the cabin, making the already hot kitchen near unbearable to stand in. Niki sets the pot off of the stove, just to let the soup fall to a simmer and cool, and hastily follows Fundy as he goes to sit on the tiny area they've made into a porch.</p><p>The air turns acrid with smoke and Niki scrunches up her nose as Fundy breathes out. She can see the way his shoulders sag, though, the tension seeping from his body with every puff he takes. She hates the smoking, but it's helping him right now, so she chooses to stay quiet on the matter for now.</p><p>"Wilbur was wrong about you, you know," she starts softly. The fabric of her shorts is soft, and it's easy to find a stray thread hanging from one of the seams. She picks at it, just to have something to do, and Fundy takes in a shaky breath.</p><p>"Yeah." Is all he gives in response, and yet Niki finds she doesn't believe him. In some twisted way, she understands. She imagines it would be a hard pill to swallow after everything Wilbur did in life.</p><p>Preparing herself for the hard part, Niki takes in a deep breath and squares her shoulders. Fundy takes another drag from his cigarette and stares blankly at the desert that stretches before them.</p><p>"I will never forgive him for how he acted in Pogtopia." Niki lets go of the thread, clenches the fabric of her shorts in her hands like it'll somehow ground her. Fundy squeezes his eyes shut. "Wilbur hurt a lot of people, Fundy. He hurt all of L'manburg and he hurt his family and he hurt me, but most of all, he hurt <em>you</em>. I won't forget how he didnt question your loyalty once, how he never wrote and never checked in and never stopped to think about you. I won't forget how he left you to fester under Schlatt's rule and how badly Schlatt broke you down while Wilbur willfully looked away. Wilbur hurt a lot of people, but I will <em>never</em> forgive him for how he hurt you."</p><p>Fundy sucks in a sharp breath, and she can see tears start to leak from his eyes. "He just...left. Begged his dad to kill him in front of everyone so he wouldn't have to face the consequences of his actions. Didn't even think twice about what he would be leaving behind. One second he was there and the next he was just <em>gone</em>."</p><p>"And it was wrong of him to be that selfish," Niki gently agrees, her knuckles going white the harder she clenches her fists into her shorts. "But there's not much else we can do about it now, right?"</p><p>The cigarette is half burnt, held pathetically between Fundy's fingers as he brings his hands up to cover his face. "<em>Right</em>. Right."</p><p>Niki can feel tears welling up in her own eyes, thinking so much about her late best friend. Even if she knows, logically, that everything she's saying is the truth, some dark and twisted part of her mind is telling her that she's wrong and it's all her fault Wilbur did what he did. She lets out a watery sigh and leans her head on Fundy's shoulder. He's shaking.</p><p>"I'm here with you now, Fundy. I can't pretend to know how the people in L'manburg feel, or why they do the things they do to each other, but I know that I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. You're my family, yeah?"</p><p>And Fundy doesn't lift his face from his hands, but he does shift closer, tilting himself to make the position more comfortable. "Yeah."</p><p>They sit like that for a while, and by the time they go back inside to eat, the soup has gone cold.</p>
<hr/><p>Niki didn't go to Schlatt's funeral. She had no want to, nothing compelled her to watch Bad try to round up a group of seething citizens as they badmouthed a tyrant's name over his casket and desecrated his already decaying body. Quackity was going to be there, she knew, and even though she didn't know him very well she had had an idea of how well he was going to treat Schlatt's funeral.</p><p>Fundy, though—Niki is intimately aware of how Fundy felt about Schlatt. After all, he <em>did</em> attend the funeral.</p><p>(<em>Tubbo told her that Fundy left midway through, right before the speeches began. He also proudly told her about picking apart the chopped up corpse of the former president and using his broken bones as weapons with Tommy and Quackity. Niki has no trouble thinking of a reason Fundy might've left before Tubbo's speech.</em>)</p><p>Despite having only said it aloud once, Fundy isn't very subtle about how much he looked up to Schlatt. Upon Tommy and Wilbur's exile from L'manburg, he'd jumped at the opportunity to prove himself to someone, and it just so happened the perfect person to crave attention from was right there, tearing his father's country to the ground brick by brick.</p><p>And maybe Schlatt wasn't a good person, maybe he was terrible in every way imaginable, but Fundy admired him, and maybe that says more about Fundy than it does about Schlatt.</p><p>The sort of way Fundy idolized him, looked for guidance and mentorship in someone who he knew would fail to provide time and time again, it all is really just... sad. And she doesn't pity Fundy, doesn't look down on him for reacting the way he did, but she can't help the way her stomach drops every time he mentions the man, says his name with even the slightest bit of admiration.</p><p>Niki can't even begin to understand why he looks up to Schlatt, or, at least did, for a while. She thinks that she doesn't really have to understand to be sympathetic. Living for someone like that, someone who would sooner throw you to your death than give you a passing glance, she can't imagine the kind of shit it must have instilled in Fundy's mind.</p><p>Sometimes, in the moments in between, she'll catch him sitting and staring at an enchanted netherite sword, running his hand over it like it'll somehow give him the answers to every questions he's ever posed to the universe. Once, he'd left it on his bed, and she'd caught a glimpse of the name engraved on the blade, the letters neat and not Fundy's handwriting at all. '<em>Shclatt</em>,' it had read.</p><p>Niki never really had a strong relationship with her parents. There was never any hostility, but she'd always felt trapped in her home town. The moment she was able she'd left in search for something else, something more, and she happened to find it in L'manburg relatively easily. She can't relate to anything Fundy is going through because she hasn't even sent her parents a letter since Schlatt became president.</p><p>All she can really do is make an educated guess on how he might be feeling and how to help, but even then it's a shot in the dark, a hopeful toss with her eyes screwed shut. It doesn't help much that, for all they've talked about Wilbur (<em>for all they've screamed into the night that they hate him, for all they've broken down in each other's arms when they miss him, for all they've celebrated the things he did in life</em>) they've not even touched the topic of Schlatt.</p><p>Niki thinks that it's somehow more personal to him than the topic of his deceased father is. Sure, Niki knew Schlatt, but she was never a part of his cabinet, she was never on his side, even undercover. She never talked to him beyond screaming up at a podium as he ordered terrible things to happen to her because she was being too loud. Fundy, though—Fundy saw it all. He was there, somehow, from the moment Schlatt chose his cabinet members to the moment he collapsed in that broken down hot dog van.</p><p>He's beaten Fundy with a broken bottle that day, delirious and drunk off his ass. Nobody had stepped in. Fundy still has a scar on his forehead where the bottle had initially shattered against his skull.</p><p>If that's what he'd been willing to do in front of an army pointing weapons at him, who knew what he might've done when no one was paying attention. It gives Niki chills, just thinking about how much Schlatt's cabinet must've gone through under his rule. Maybe they had every right to fucking pick apart his corpse and scream and laugh and celebrate his death. She'll never know.</p><p>She wishes, sometimes, that she had done more. She also knows realistically that, no matter what she might've done back then, she wouldn't have been able to sway him away from his goals. Fundy is nothing if not stubborn and persistent, and if he wanted with everything he had to be a spy and make the corrupt leader of their fucked up government proud, there was nothing in her power to stop him.</p><p>As time moves forward and Fundy opens up bit by bit to her, she begins to think that they'll never get to Schlatt. Maybe that's okay. Even if they're friends, even if they're family, if he never wants to bring up Schlatt she'll never force him to. It's not like Niki particularly wants to go down that road of memories, anyways. If it were up to her, Schlatt would've been erased not only from history but from the minds of everyone ever a very long time ago. He didn't deserve to be known in life and he doesn't deserve to be remembered in death.</p><p>But it's not like she can sway some cosmic force of the universe to push the man from the minds and hearts of the world, so he continues to live on in memory, his vision forever tainted with the most heinous acts he ever committed during his rule.</p><p>Maybe his horns had been a glaring sign all along, that they weren't to trust him. A wolf in sheep's clothing if she wants to get cliche.</p><p>Time goes on and Fundy continues to ignore the glaring topic of their old president, and Niki stays content with that. Sometimes, things are better left unsaid, and even though she loathes to admit it, she thinks that, were they to talk about it, things may end up a lot worse than they started. That's simply not a risk Niki is willing to take right now.</p><p>It's never brought up, and they carefully step around it, and it's not so much a bomb to avoid as it is a sinkhole they'd rather not touch. Fundy smiles and they talk about his family and L'manburg and Niki's secret city and it's good.</p><p>It's good.</p>
<hr/><p>"Do you ever think he was right?" Niki asks into the quiet of the morning. The sun is just beginning to rise, and with it goes the temperature. The pillow propped up behind her is stiff with humidity and distantly she wonders if it's doing anything to support her back at all. </p><p>Fundy just sighs and scratches at his cheek. "No."</p><p>She takes in a deep breath and the scent of the tea in her hands fills her nose. It smells of cactus and she realizes belatedly that she doesn't remember making it. Fundy's claws click against his own mug and her brain slowly, steadily fits the pieces together.</p><p>"But what if L'manburg really was always meant to fall? What if he really did do us a favor by blowing it all up?"</p><p>"Wilbur fucking blew up the only place I called home. I don't think he deserves even a shred of understanding."</p><p>"I just..." Niki looks down at her tea and watches swathes of steam curl into the air. Her head feels fuzzy. "I don't know."</p><p>Fundy sets down his mug on the bedside table and leans forward, pressing the back of his hand to Niki's forehead. When she leans slightly into the touch, he purses his lips.</p><p>"You should finish that and go back to sleep. You're getting warmer."</p><p>"I don't feel warm," Niki mumbles, frowning down at the tea. It swirls slowly, round and round, and damn, maybe she <em>should</em> lie back down. Fundy clicks his tongue.</p><p>"That's part of the problem. Just–get some sleep, Niki. God knows you need it." The last part is muttered but Niki still catches it. She raises her head to look at him better and squints.</p><p>"Hm." There are so many thoughts floating around in her brain that she can't quite grasp at, each of them just out of her reach. Suddenly, her mind wraps around a single coherent thought, and without much of a filter, she blurts, "If Wilbur hadn't blown up L'manburg, we wouldn't be here right now."</p><p>For some reason the words leave a bitter film on her tongue, like her own body is punishing her for her lack of sense. The clicking of Fundy's claws against his mug stops adruptly, and he takes in a shaking breath.</p><p>"Yeah, I guess that's right." And when he looks at her he looks so <em>sad</em>. Niki didn't mean to make him sad. Maybe that's just the essence of this place, though. It'll always be a little sad, probably, because they both had to lose so much to gain this one ounce of peace. She's very tired. "Go to sleep, Niki."</p><p>"Mmhm."</p><p>When her eyes flutter shut and her minds drifts off, her mind repeats the thought like a mantra, a constant reminder of what she has and what she has to protect.</p><p>
  <em>Without L'manburg's death, Drywaters would never have been born. Maybe Wilbur was right.</em>
</p><p>And Niki is asleep before she can think further, her body deciding she needs rest rather than contemplation over complicated morality.</p><p>When she wakes up, Fundy doesn't mention her ill-addled rambling from the morning, and she can't for the life of her remember what she was thinking. Life goes on, and Niki doesn't debate the validity of Wilbur's actions with herself again.</p><p>She can't change the past, after all, and who care what led to Drywaters' creation? They're here now, and that's enough, really.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>drywater had so much potential and so far its been used for nothing but a mob farm......please drywaters rise i beg you</p><p>sorta abrupt ending because i couldnt think of a better way to end it lmao my bad yall</p><p>
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